A loose pit bull running along the embankment south of Stadium Boulevard near Forum Boulevard brought out a police officer armed and ready to open fire if the animal attacked or tried to cross the busy intersection yesterday.

Nick King photo

Columbia Police Sgt. Roger Schlude tries to contain a loose pit bull on the south side of Stadium Boulevard just west of Forum Boulevard. Schlude was prepared to shoot the dog had it ran toward him or toward the road.

An animal control officer, though, scared the dog back into its fenced enclosure on Highridge Drive, and a roommate took it inside. The dog’s owner will be cited for not keeping the dog leashed and issued a "vicious animal warning," which creates a record of the incident.

Animal Control officer Debbie Christoff planned to call the owner today "to let him know if this happens again how close his dog came this time to not being there when he got home - in a permanent way."

Christoff does not believe the dog is dangerously distempered or has rabies.

"He’s just an ornery dog," she said. "He’s wagging his tail and barking, which means, ‘I want to bite somebody, and I want to do it for fun.’ He is an aggressive dog, but hopefully the people realize they really need to keep him" tied "up if they want to keep the dog."

The incident began just after 11 a.m. when a jogger flagged down Sgt. Roger Schlude and complained he was being chased by a barking dog running along the embankment. Schlude called for an animal control officer and stood guard beneath the hill with shotgun cocked.

Schlude said he was protecting against the possibility that the dog would run into traffic.

Christoff said the officer took proper precaution.

"I wasn’t going to get hung up in traffic with a dog, either," she said. "I have to pick up enough dead animals without somebody having to come pick me up."

"Yeah, you could do without a hole in the leg, too," Schlude joked.

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